Ben,

I have used Western Red Cedar for both of my skin versions. I have had a chine crack, but I think that was due to my extremely lowered floor design. I have since come up with a better design for that.

Lowering the floor helps a lot. The low floor on the 20" beam one make even that kayak stable enough. Keep the sheer as low as possible. Raise the bow a couple of inches to help with plunging. Moving the seat/cockpit back 1-1/2" balances the kayak better in winds, but it makes it track stronger and reduces turning ease. I haven't tried adding more rocker yet, but the skinny version could use more. I highly recommend a synthetic skin. DON'T use the standard cockpit. I've switched to a keyhole design that I am quite happy with.

Get your brass screws from someplace like Tacoma Screw where they cost 1/10 of what they do at someplace like Home Despot or LOW(quality)es Hardware. I really like the polyester that I used for the skin on my last one, it is much nicer to work with (same weight, tighter weave) than the Dyson polyester.

I also have the offsets for the Skinny Walrus forms. The skinny version is substancially quicker and easier to roll than the standard.

Mike

: Hey there Mike,
: I just got the forms cut out and will try to pick up the wood sometime this
: week. I was planning to use cedar, any advice? I see that most use spruce
: or ash. Also since I don't have a strongbench yet I thought about using my
: 2x4 internal strongback and cutting holes in my forms like I did with the
: Guillemot.

: I'll have to see about saturday, I used up a lot of my spouse credit points
: yesterday and I'm not sure how many I've got left I went rock climbing
: for most of the day, spent 1/2 hr at home loading the yak and windsurfer
: and was out playing on Lake Stevens with my boys till 9 last night. I'll
: try to earn enough to make it out to the pass.